"Schopenhauer tells us of a colony of porcupines wont to huddle together...able neither to tolerate nor to do without one another, until they discovered that when they stood at a certain distance..they could delight in one another's individuality and enjoy one another's company. Unknown to themselves they'd invented civil association"

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Steyn on the mandate--his highness

Mark Steyn gets to the heart of the Health Services mandate issue with his column today, appropriately titled: The Church of Obama, the President has issued his own act ofSupremacy.

“The church model the young American state wished to separate from was that of the British monarch, who remains to this day supreme governor of the Church of England. This convenient arrangement dates from the 1534 Act of Supremacy. The title of the law gives you the general upshot, but, just in case you’re a bit slow on the uptake, the text proclaims ‘the King’s Majesty justly and rightfully is and ought to be the supreme head of the Church of England.’ That’s to say, the sovereign is ‘the only supreme head on earth of the Church’ and he shall enjoy ‘all honors, dignities, pre-eminences, jurisdictions, privileges, authorities, immunities, profits, and commodities to the said dignity,’ not to mention His Majesty ‘shall have full power and authority from time to time to visit, repress, redress, record, order, correct, restrain, and amend all such errors, heresies, abuses, offenses, contempts, and enormities, whatsoever they be.’

Mind you, the only thing really noteworthy in this whole thing is that it is religious liberty that is being abridged.It is in that sense a more brazen act of usurpation, but in all respects really nothing out of the ordinary, which is why for those who aren't religious this is an "I'm Spartacus!" moment.